Saturday, 8 August 2015

If the TPP passes, Crown corporations like the CBC could be required to operate entirely for profit. And worse -- this move could force the CBC to be privatized.

The mission of the CBC is to tell the bilingual and multicultural story of Canada – and if this deal passes, its only goal will be corporate profit.

Canadian politicians are extremely vulnerable to public pressure right now as they head into one of the longest election campaigns in Canadian history -- let's make sure our CBC is protected and not sold off for profit.

Sign the petition to Prime Minister Harper and the Party Leaders: Scrap the TPP and save the CBC!

The leaked document from Wikileaks shows that CBC, Canada Post and other Crown corporations could be forced into operating solely for profit if the TPP deal is passed.

Harper was gunning to pass the secretive and extreme TPP deal before the election was announced so he wouldn't have to answer to voters on the campaign trail. But last week's talks in Hawaii stalled out and public opposition is growing by the day. Harper has been busy making cuts to the CBC and other crown corporations for years, and honestly, we've had enough.

These institutions represent an essential part of the fabric of this country. We have no idea if this provision will make it into the deal's final text -- but we can't afford to wait and find out if Harper tries to unilaterally rubber stamp the TPP deal.

Call on Harper and Party Leaders to protect the CBC and our Crown corporations from terrible trade deals.

Harper called the election a whole month early because he thinks money is all it takes to hold on to power. Conservative MPs spent the days before the writ dropped on a corporate spending spree -- literally spending $4 billion to help secure votes.

Right now, we desperately need a publicly funded national broadcaster free from corporate influence. We need an alternative to Americanized corporate channels, one that gives Canadian writers, actors, producers and broadcasters have a place to grow and develop a national consciousness. The CBC used to excel at this and even now, crippled by successive funding cuts, it punches far above its weight.

At SumOfUs, we have been fighting for the CBC for years. And with the coming election, now is our chance to say loud and clear that we don't want a Canada without a fully funded public broadcaster. That means no corporate influence and no selling it off to benefit private interests.